# Cultural Freedom Policy #

## Purpose ##

A central goal of the AUT Computer Science Club (CSC) is to encourage
and perpetuate learning, and share knowledge, without the restrictions of
societal inequality. This Cultural Freedom Policy (CFP) exists to ensure that
any cultural works produced as part of club activies are made available under
policies that permit sharing, modification, and redistribution, and do not place
undue technical or financial restrictions upon those who wish to do any of the
above.

This document outlines key terms, as well as the expectations for any cultural
contributions in our community.

## Freedom-respecting culture ##

Cultural works (including software) are *freedom-respecting* if they grant all
those who wish them the following four rights:

0. The **right to use** the work and enjoy its benefits;
1. The **right to study** the work and apply knowledge acquired from it;
2. The **right to make and redistribute copies**, of the whole work or any part
   of it; and
3. The **right to make changes and improvements**, and to distribute derivative
   works.

It is important that freedom-respecting works provide, practically and without
any risk, all of the above rights. However, if authors of works of culture do
not take action, their works are covered by existing copyright laws, which
severely limit what others can and cannot do. 

To ensure that works are freedom-respecting, an author should select a *license* 
for the work: choosing to do so does not mean that the author loses all their 
rights, but does guarantee that everyone has the freedoms listed above. Unless a
cultural work has a license that guarantees these rights (a *freedom-respecting
license* from here on), the work cannot be considered freedom-respecting. A list
of such licenses is [available][3].

An alternative term for freedom-respecting works (typically used for software)
is *open-source*. While the criteria in this case are near-identical, we prefer
the term 'freedom-respecting', as it phrases the benefits of this aproach in
non-technical, universal and humanitarian terms. While any work defined as
open-source is by definition also freedom-respecting, this CFP will use the
latter term for the reasons given above.

## Edit-friendly culture ##

Cultural works (including software) are *edit-friendly* if they are:

0. In an [open format][1].
1. Can be edited by at least one open-source application.
2. Are in a preferred source form for editing (that is, are stored in the way
   that permits others to do as much as possible with them).
3. Stored in a public location without undue access restrictions.

## Our policy ##

All cultural works that are used as part of club activities **must** be released as
freedom-respecting culture. This includes, but is not limited to:

* Presentation slides for any talk or presentation given during club events
* Software that is demonstrated as part of club events
* Artwork or logos used for club business or activities
* Club promotional materials

This requirement also requires that the works be **clearly labelled** with a
freedom-respecting license. Additionally, where possible, all such works should 
also be edit-friendly.

The above requirements *prohibit* any sort of Digital Restrictions Management
(also known as DRM) being embedded in any such work.

## Scope ##

We expect **all** community participants (members, sponsors and other guests) to
abide by this CFP.

## Compliance ##

Compliance with this CFP is a pre-requisite for the use of club time or
resources for an activity. Lack of complicance with this CFP will mean that your
activity or event cannot proceed.

## Additional resources ##

To assist community participants with the requirements of this CFP, we provide
the following additional resources:

* [A list of open formats][1]
* [A list of freedom-respecting licenses][3]
* The associated TOOLS.md file, listing tools suitable for creating a range of
  cultural works, along with some 'anti-suggestions' and the reasoning behind
  them
* A public repository on [NotABug.org][2] as a public place to commit their
  works

Any community participant can request push rights for a repository in the
organization: to do this, please contact a member of the organizational
committee.

## Contact information ##

Any further inquiries or concerns should be raised with the CSC organizing
committee. Currently, its members are:

* Glen Osborne <wjm2022@autuni.ac.nz>
* Koz Ross <koz.ross@retro-freedom.nz>
* Yuan Yuan <Yuan.Yuan@live.hk>

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open_formats
[2]: https://notabug.org/aut-csc
[3]: http://freedomdefined.org/Licenses
